Alex, Founder, Chief Visionary, and Board Chair at Eliza Corporation, coined Unmentionables as those aspects of daily living which everyone deals with, but few like to talk about: like sex (whether too much, too little), drugs (abusing), drinking (too much), toileting problems (such as incontinence or pooping problems), sleep trouble, and caring for others (not ourselves so much). These daily life challenges can negatively impact health, with financial stress being one of the prime and most ubiquitous stressors among all of the Unmentionables.

Specifically, people relate high levels of stress from debt to some major health issues, including back pain, migraines and headaches, sleeping problems (one of the Unmentionables in and of itself), anxiety, gut issues, and depression. The incidence of high blood pressure is somewhat elevated in stress-filled people, but in peoples’ minds, it’s not as directly related to money stress as these other health conditions are.

An individual’s financial problem impacts their individual health, but it’s also a driver for employers’ health costs: The American Psychological Association Practice Organization published research in 2010 attesting to this fact. And, financial distress is a strong precursor to workplace absences – another cost for employers to consider.

Health Populi’s Hot Points: The solution to the health/wealth challenge is multi-pronged. Americans tend not to save to the extent that other nations’ citizens do; to extend credit beyond Suze Orman’s sound recommendations to eliminate debt; and, to avoid health and health plan literacy compared to other shopping literacy like knowing how to buy a washing machine or automobile, or take out a home mortgage.

The interconnection between health and money is huge and must be mentioned, often, so that it’s not taboo. This is a society-wide issue that goes well beyond the impact on an individual American health citizen and her family. It impacts her community, her workplace and employer, and the unbending nature of U.S. health care costs. Promoting savings to make it more sexy would provide a buffer to sleeplessness, turning to alcohol and substances, headaches and backaches. And probably promote better sex lives, as well. Empirical evidence to follow!

Spam or scamViolence or harmful behaviourSexually explicit contentI don't like this commentThis comment is harassing or bullying me

Your Message

Your report has been successfully sent. We will look into it.

2 Comments on Money and health, migraines and sleep: how stress directly impacts health and wealth

According to HBO's documentary, The Weight of the Nation, public health officials have seen differences in average lifespan of more than 20 years between affluent and low-income neighborhoods on opposite sides of the same town. Stress from economic worry is one cause, but so is less access to fresh produce (just fast food & convenience stores), fewer safe places to play & exercise, lack of adequate Heath care, etc. You can watch the documentary's trailer and all four TV episodes, and see the stats and a related infographic, at http://www.mhealthtalk.com/2012/06/americas-obesity-epidemic-a-big-problem-updated/.

Sleep is the new black – digital health at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show #CES2014 | Health Populi
said :
GuestReport
5 years ago

[…] Consumer Electronics Show, it’s sleep that’s the #1 new extension on activity tracking. Sleep, or lack thereof, is a prevalent challenge for people who increasingly live electronic lifestyles on-the-grid. And, lack of sleep is a major […]

Jane is delighted to be invited to speak at the Consumer Healthcare Products Association's (CHPA) annual conference with health care marketers, convening at the historic Hotel du Pont in Wilmington. We'll cover the growing retail health ecosystem and opportunities for self-care, health engagement, and digital health in the expanding IoT for health/care at home.

Founded in 2007, the Health Populi website has over 2,000 posts, along with a library of Jane's writings and media mentions. Please use our search and filter functions to find the relevant posts for you. Make sure to sign up to our RSS feeds and join us on Twitter, too, by following @HealthyThinker.